Resource intensive, chat clients are something that should always be turned off whilst gaming. So, as soon as the engine kicks in and the ball hits the green, the talking ceases. That's not to say that conversing with a friend who's also playing the match is impossible, just that everyone outside is out of the loop. Steve and Dave agree that it'd be kind of cool to keep chat/buddy tracking in and accessible mid-swing, so maybe next year?

The online features here are admittedly a little bit behind the pack. And there are still all kinds of cool things that can and will come...

Want to play Pebble? How about the real Pebble Beach, exactly as it is on the day you're playing? Next year we may see Tiger coordinating with the national weather service. This bizarre handshake will result in accurate matches whenever they are played. Let's say the day you logon to sling balls and make divots, a few lingering clouds are hanging over the course and it's a bit windy in real life. The game might read that information from the Internet and create the appropriate conditions in the game, if so wished. Insane and awesome? Yes. Again, this is a maybe for next year, a bit of evidence that proves EASO has a lot the way of potential.

For today, we'll have to contend with a bunch of modes, options, customizables, configurables, and other words I like to invent. The bigality of it all is quite impressicating.

Sinful, greedy, and Croatian by nature, I'm most interested in the gambling component. Franklins will have to be exchanged on the side, but if you'd like something better to do with all those EA tokens you've been dutifully collecting by faithfully playing the game, perhaps you'd like to wager them to make more? Settings bets with friends and enemies will be a snap. Thank you, ye thoughtfully created EASO interface.

And for those worried about poor connections, don't. Steve puts the 28.8 loving cavemen in their place.

"We have an amazingly small packet size."

Dan jokes...flooding brain. Must fight urge...to insult his genitalia. For the layman (us), Steve's trying to say Tiger's not just a conceptually cool multiplayer experience. It will indeed have the core technology to back up the bark. In other words, lag (that thing that makes other things not so fun) shouldn't be a problem. Anyone with an ISP and a phone line not made of yarn and spliced with snuff should be fine.

But for as much attention as the online portion of the game is getting, EA and Headgate seem even more serious about perfecting the engine.

The press release claims the grass actually grows around your feet. This is a highly dubious statement, but it does crunch and stand erect. It's a very subtle effect, since grass is rarely knee high, but still an appreciable one, since grass is also most times not Astroturf flat.

We're also getting weather (that thing that happens in the sky in those open places not adorned by animated Batman and Saves the Day posters). In addition to the completely redesigned skybox (dome, cube, whatever), with lifelike, eerie clouds that eerily move, we'll also be seeing rain, fog, and cold weather. Naturally, wind is also present. I don't think changes are dynamic (afternoon to dusk, rain to sunshine and rainbows), but it's an awesome start and helps compliment the already awesome visuals.

Trees still sway, but now drape more detailed shadows, and player models are exceptionally clean, with plenty of self-shading and all kinds of whiz-bang mapped and environmental effects.

Mo-capping from 2002 is in, but different animations have been added. I was a little unclear on how much is coming from previous shoots (since it doesn't make sense to record a golfer multiple times if there are already scraps to use), but I do know that rookies to the game will get the shiny new car smell, because maybe some might not want to move exactly like Tiger. As far as I can figure without a more detailed explanation, everyone is spliced with new/improved and old material. We have new facial, idle, and play animations, but we also have motions making their second appearance. Put it in perspective. It just doesn't make sense to toss all the animations from Madden 2002 to the wind when making 2003, so why would it happen here?